June 20, 2012 With two new SafeAssure solutions – the Qorivva MPC574xP 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) and system basis chip (SBC) MC33906/7/8 families –Freescale help automotive systems meet all Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL) up to and including the most stringent one, ASIL D. Applications that can benefit include electric power steering, electronic stability control, vehicle dynamic and chassis control, safety domain control, adaptive cruise control and blind spot detection. Read more

May 16, 2012 Is the reuse of avionics software feasible or even recommendable in automotive applications? This was one of the questions the research project VirtuOS tried to straighten out. The research team also addressed the question if such software meets the requirements of the safety standard ISO 26262. Read more

May 14, 2012 In the automotive industry, the aspect of functional safety increasingly gains importance in the design of new functions - in the first place for applications involved in braking and steering the car. But powertrain-related applications are also subject to functional safety considerations - for instance in automatic transmissions where today a microcomputer shifts gears. For this reasons, microprocessors and software alike become subject to the application of ISO 26262 which regulates the processes and requirements for embedded safety-related functions in cars. Read more

April 25, 2012 Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced an evaluation and development platform for embedded systems targeted at automotive motor control applications where compliance with the ISO 26262 functional safety standard is required. Read more

April 25, 2012 Nexteer Automotive has developed an electronic architecture for its electric power steering (EPS) systems that will make integration of new electronic features faster and provide greater functional safety. The architecture gives car manufacturers a single, customizable 12-volt platform for all passenger vehicle types, from low-cost micro-cars to the highest-specification luxury SUVs. Read more

April 19, 2012 The SymTA/S methodology developed by software vendor Symtavision supports the design of ISO 26262 compliant mixed-criticality automotive electronics systems. It overcomes inherent trade-offs between safety and efficiency, especially when 'freedom from interference' must be implemented between software partitions with different criticality levels. Read more

January 27, 2012 With Autosar 4.x being in the design pipeline for a production start in 2014 to 2016, the automotive value chain increasingly demands development platforms. In order to meet this demand, Electronic Design Automation software vendor Mentor Graphics and Delphi subsidiary Mecel AB have joined their forces - now they introduced what they claim to be the first complete design environment for Autosar 4.x based software. The functionality includes configuration, code generation and implementation of BSW solutions for the Autosar versions 4.02 and 4.03. Read more

January 23, 2012 Automotive development tool vendor Vector Informatik has launched version 5.0 of its PREEvision automotive electronics development platform. The release addresses many aspects not considered in earlier versions. Examples are requirements management, hazard and risk analysis according to ISO26262 requirements, Autosar support and life cycle management. Read more

November 11, 2011 The QA C source code analyzer from static analysis tool vendor PRQA Programming Research has been certified for safety-related software development according to IEC 61508 and ISO/FDIS 26262 standards. PRQA offers a complete compliance package for development teams that includes QA•C, MISRA C compliance modules and a Safety Manual. Read more

October 26, 2011 Functional safety is a paramount topic for automotive electronics designers - so important that the most important rules and best practices for functional safety have been compiled and turned into an international standard - ISO 26262. A software tool helps auto electronics designers to handle this standard. Read more

October 12, 2011 Infineon has expanded its 32-bit automotive microcontroller spectrum by a new multicore architecture with up to three cores. The company positions the new architecture as the foundation of its next generation MCU family targeting in particular automotive powertrain and safety applications. Read more

October 12, 2011 Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced a development kit for automotive ECUs which have to meet functional safety requirements according to ISO 26262 for street vehicles. Read more

September 8, 2011 Designed to help developers obtain safety certifications, Texas Instruments has announced its new Hercules safety microcontroller platform for medical, industrial and transportation applications. The platform consists of three ARM Cortex-based microcontroller families that deliver scalable performance, connectivity, memory and safety features for applications that require a high level of reliability. Read more

July 14, 2011 Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced that it will introduce two automotive microcontrollers for electronic control units compliant with ISO 26262, a functional safety standard for automobiles. The new products are the “TMPM350FDTFG” for electric power steering control and the “TMPM354F10TFG” for control of drive motors of hybrid and electric vehicles. Read more

April 12, 2011 The Matlab Coder from software vendor Mathworks enables design engineers to automatically generate C and C++ code directly from Matlab algorithms, effectively eliminating manual recoding in the algorithm-to-implementation workflow. At the same time the company has announced that its Simulink verification tool has been certified according to the ISO 26262 safety standard. Read more

January 25, 2011 Embedded technology solutions developer Elektrobit (EB) has launched an offer to support companies in the development and integration of safety applications and functions for safety-relevant systems. The Functional Safety Competence Team at EB can manage safety mechanisms for AUTOSAR-compliant software, including the highest safety classification of ASIL Level D. Read more

November 30, 2010 For safety-critical applications in compliance with SIL (IEC 61508) or ASIL (ISO 26262) Software tool vendor Hitex offers the safety library SafeTcore for Infineon's TriCore microcontrollers frequently used in automotive and industrial motor controls. Read more

November 10, 2010 Real-time software vendor Sysgo AG and automotive operating system provider OpenSynergy GmbH will provide a jointly developed software platform for automotive markets. The platform meets aerospace safety specs while at the same time it is Autosar-compliant. Read more

March 5, 2012 Embedded software vendor Wind River announced enhancements to its VxWorks safety solutions, including safe and secure partitioning via the upcoming version of Wind River Hypervisor, the company's high-performance embedded hypervisor. The addition of safe and secure partitioning will enable workload consolidation of safety-certified applications alongside Linux and Windows applications on single- and multi-core processors. Read more